LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani police stepped up searches for suspects on Monday to kill doctors from the country's younger Ahmadi minority, the latest in a series of deadly attacks targeting the community.
The doctor was shot dead at a private hospital working in the eastern city of Sargodha on Friday. The gunman fled the scene.
The Ahmadi religion is a branch of Islam, but Pakistan declared Ahmadius non-Muslim in 1974. Pakistan has about 500,000 Ahmadis, a country with 250 million.
No one claimed responsibility for Friday's killings, but supporters of the radical Islamic party Tehreek-e-labbaik Pakistan have carried out many attacks on Ahmadis, accusing them of blasphemy.
Blasphemy was sentenced to death in Pakistan, or even just rumors or insulting Islam, to push the mob into deadly violence.
Sagoda police officer Sikandar Ali said the motive for the killing of Dr. Sheikh Mahmood is not yet known. He said an investigation is underway.
Amir Mahmood, spokesman for Ahmadi community, said the Mahmood's killing was the third attack on Ahmadis, Pakistan. He urged the government to protect Ahmadis, whose places of worship and even cemeteries are often desecrated by extreme Sunni groups.
